Meeting of Separated Brothers

Holy Father Greets Evangelicals

The Holy Father made a private visit to Caserta July 28, his second trip to the southern Italian city in three days.

The purpose of this visit was to meet an old friend from Buenos Aires, pastor Giovanni Traettino, and greet evangelicals and members of the community Traettino founded, the Pentecostal Church of the Reconciliation.

After arrival by helicopter soon after 10am and greeting Traettino and his family, Pope Francis was welcomed by nearly 350 Pentecostals, who had traveled to Caserta from around Italy, as well as from the United States and South America.

At press time, the Vatican had yet to release the text of the Pope’s remarks to those gathered, but according to La Stampa, he acknowledged that “some people are surprised that the Pope has come to find evangelicals.” But for him, he said, “I came to find brothers.”

He continued: “It is a temptation to say, ‘I am the Church — you are a sect.’ Jesus prayed for unity. The Holy Spirit brings diversity to the Church. He makes diversity. But the same Holy Spirit brings unity, and the Church is one in its diversity — a diversity reconciled by the Holy Spirit.”

The Pope then addressed the sensitive issue of persecution against Pentecostals by Italian fascists in the 1920s and 1930s. Noting that Catholics were among the perpetrators, he said: “I am the shepherd of Catholics, and I ask forgiveness for those Catholic brothers and sisters who didn’t understand and were tempted by the devil.”

He also recalled how Pentecostal worship was banned and remembered the many Pentecostal pastors and believers who were arrested. According to La Stampa, the persecution dates back to April 9, 1935, when the Italian fascists sent a circular forbidding worship of Pentecostals because they “expressed extrinsically and concretely religious practices that are contrary to the social order and harmful to the physical and mental integrity of the race.” As a result of this circular, Pentecostal pastors and their followers were arrested and imprisoned.

Speaking to Vatican Radio, Traettino said pardon and reconciliation were at the heart of the Pope’s words, and to loud applause, the Holy Father asked forgiveness for the words and actions of Catholics who have persecuted Pentecostals in the past.

Calling the Pope “my beloved brother,” Traettino said the evangelical community was “deeply grateful” for the visit, which would have been “unthinkable” until very recently.

He said many evangelicals “pray daily” for the Pope and see his election as the work of the Holy Spirit.

Traettino said the Pope stressed that “all of us are sinners,” but that each person must continue to “walk boldly” in the presence of the Lord.

“Quoting from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, Pope Francis spoke of the diversity of the body of Christ, but he stressed that diversity is reconciled to unity through the action of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Luca Baratto, a pastor from the Italian Federation of Evangelical Churches, said the Pope’s apology was unexpected and greatly appreciated.

“It is very important to remember the racial laws through which the Pentecostals were victims under fascism,” he told the Italian news agency AKI. “We really appreciate the opening of dialogue by this pope.”

Following the encounter, Pope Francis had lunch with members of the Pentecostal community in Caserta and returned by helicopter to the Vatican later on July 28.

Notably absent from the gathering was Pentecostal Bishop Tony Palmer, also an old acquaintance of the Pope from the Holy Father’s days in Buenos Aires. Last January, he used his smartphone to record a message from Pope Francis to send to a Pentecostal conference in the United States. Palmer died July 20 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in England.

Francis is particularly eager to establish good relationships with evangelicals, convinced that even though disagreements exist over doctrine, it is still possible to love Christ and witness to him together. He has also sought to heal hurts caused by Catholics in the past and to apologize for these wrongs on the Church’s behalf.

Over the past year, he has met and received groups of Pentecostals at his St. Martha residence. During a meeting in June, evangelical pastor Brian Stiller caused a stir when, according to his memory of the conversation, the Pope told him he “was not interested in converting evangelicals to Catholicism” and that he wished that people “find Jesus in their own community.” Although the remarks have not been verified, the Vatican has not denied them.

This was Pope Francis’ second visit to Caserta in 72 hours, having celebrated a public Mass there and met the region’s priests on June 26, the feast day of St. Anne, the city’s patron saint.

In his homily, the Pope warned against corruption and lawlessness and underlined the importance of safeguarding the environment. The city is notorious for the Camorra organized crime gang.

Comments

N.D. says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
August 17, 2014 at 10:18 am
Secular modernity is anti Christ; one cannot be for Christ, and anti Christ simultaneously. This does not change the fact that we can build a culture of Life, by desiring to abide in The Word of God.

There Is only One Christ; there cannot be different denominations of The Word of God. There Is only One Spirit of Perfect Love Between The Father and The Son in the ordered Communion of Perfect Love that Is The Blessed Trinity. There are not different denominations of The Spirit of Love. Love does not divide, it multiplies, just as in the parable of the loaves and fishes.

At this hour it is late, but not too late, to give God The Glory that is due. “We have been ransomed for a cost”. :

6
“I revealed your name* to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
8
because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
9
I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours,e
10
and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.f
11
And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.
12
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.g
13
But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.h
14
I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.i
15
* I do not ask that you take them out of the worldj but that you keep them from the evil one.
16
They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
17
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.k
18
As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.l
19
And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.
20
“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
21
so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.m
22
And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,
23
I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.

Dear Holy Father Benedict, if you believe Our Lady’s Message at Fatima to be genuine, there is nothing that should preclude you from consecrating Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart exactly as Our Lady requested.

Posted by N.D. on Saturday, Aug 16, 2014 8:33 AM (EST):

A Catholic fascist is an oxymoron; Catholics recognize that Christ Is The King of kings.

There Is no division in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; there Is only One Spirit of Love Between The Father and The Son, in The Communion of Perfect Love that Is The Blessed Trinity.

Join the Discussion

We encourage a lively and honest discussion of our content. We ask that charity guide your words.
By submitting this form, you are agreeing to our discussion guidelines.
Comments are published at our discretion. We won’t publish comments that lack charity, are off topic, or are more than 400 words.
Thank you for keeping this forum thoughtful and respectful.